AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST DRUG CASE POSTPONED NEXT MONTH

SINGAPORE, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- The drug trial of an Australian television reporter from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), scheduled for Thursday, was postponed to Oct 9.

This is the fifth postponement since the case was first brought up at the
Subordinate Court on July 23.

Hamidul Haq, counsel for the 41-year-old journalist, Lloyd Peter Gerard,
told Bernama that there were still documents needed to be sorted out for the
case, adding that it was not uncommon to see cases postponed many times in
Singapore courts.

Gerard, dressed in a light stripe pink shirt and dark pants, and seemed to
have gained weight, was present in the courtroom.

Gerard, a New Delhi-based reporter, faces five drug charges under the
Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA).

Under the Act, a person can be jailed for between three and 20 years and
given five to 15 strokes of the cane if found guilty.

The journalist was charged with selling 0.15gm of methamphetamine, a
controlled drug, to a Singaporean for S$100 (about RM235)at a hotel here on July
9, possessing 0.41 gm of the same drug at Mount Elizabeth Hospital on July 16,
two counts of possessing utensils that carried traces of ketamine and
methamphetamine at the same hospital on July 16, and consuming methamphetamine
without authorisation in Singapore on July 16.

Gerard, who was arrested by Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) on
July 16, is on $60,000 bail.
-- BERNAMA